Fleetway Publications

From GoBots Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Fleetwaylogo1.jpg

Fleetway was a British comic book publisher, whose output included some of the most famous British comics of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s - including the seminal original Eagle, the revolutionary 2000AD and the controversial Action. Under their auspices legendary characters such as Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, Robot Archie, The Steel Claw, The Spider, Mytek the Mighty and Durham Red first appeared, while their weeklies were often among the first experience for numerous acclaimed creators, including Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Alan Moore. And also Simon Furman.

Fleetway introduced Robo Machine to British readers on August 13, 1983 when 2000AD ran a competition to win 350 of the first wave of toys. They devoted the cover of Prog 329 to the promotion, while the interior featured the competition - a spot-the-difference competition featuring a specially-drawn picture pitching Robo-Hunter Sam Slade against Tank.

As was typical for British comics at the time each publication featured seven or eight strips. These would be only a few pages long; many were serials, though standalones were used for lighter comedic strips. While much of their output was devised in-house as time went on licenced material began to play prominently into the eighties. Among the likes of Action Force and Linkits, the second volume of the Eagle included a licenced strip to promote Bandai's Robo Machine figures, named The Robo Machines, from 1984 to 1985.